Improvement in change-gate signals for street-cars



HAND.

V v CHANGE-GATE SIGNAL- FOR STREETPCARS. N.17z,7so,

Patented Jan. 25,1876.

' NITED STATES PATENT Grrrof EKINS HAND, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN B. SLAWSON,

OF -NEW YORK CITY.

IMPROVEMENT IN CHANGE-GA'IE VSIGNALS FOR STREET-CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N0. 172,730, dated J annary 25, 1876 application filed December 18, 1875.

To all whom it may concern: y Be it known that I, EKINs HAND, of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Change Gates or Bells for Street-Gars 5 and I do hereby declare that the followingis afull, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawing, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specilication, in which- Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my improved change-gate, and Fig. 2 a vertical transverse section of the same; and Fig. 3, a similar detail view of the same. Fig. 4 represents an enlarged detail section of the socket of the slide-bar tappet to show its construction.

My invention relates to that class of chan gegates called pivoted change-gates,77 and has for its object the simplification of the parts, in order to render it less complicated and costly.

Myilnprovement consists in combining with a pivoted change-gate proper a single spring and slide-bar of peculiar construction, whereby, in whatever direction the gate may be pushed, the recoil of the spring will, when the gate is released from pressure, cause the latter to resume its normal position-. e., its position when at rest-and thus close the opening through which the change is made.

To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct, and use my improvement, I will now proceed to describe its partsin detail.

The working parts are all either secured to or mounted on a plate, A, ot' suitable size and construction, such as that shown in the drawing. To this plate are secured two lugs, B. In these lugs are formed bearings for the pivoted studs a of the change-gate C.

The change-gate C is provided with an enlargement, b, at its lower end, either by being castin one piece therewith, or by being formed separately and afterward secured thereto, and which carries at its p ends the pivotal pins a. The enlargement b has an angularly-shaped notch, c, cut on its under side near its outer edge, the inner end of which may or may not be provided with a thin steel plate, d, as a wearing-surface. Into the notch c the upper end ot' a slide-bar, D, takes, and which, at its point of contact with the steel plate d, may or not be also provided with a corresponding plate, e, for a wearing-surface.

I prefer to use the wearing-plates d and e, and to so apply each that theyl may be readily renewed when worn.

Sliding bar D has a vertical slot, 1i, cut iu its upper end, through which a confining-screw, f, passes into the plate A.l A washer, g, may be interposed between the head of the screw and bar D; The screw serves to keep the bar D in place, while the-slot allows it to slide freely up and down. The lower end ofthe bar D is provided with an inwardly-projecting lug, l1., through which is -cut an opening, o, into which the upper end of a guide-pin, m, loosely fits, the guide-pin being secured to abracket, l, made fast to the lower end of the plate A. Around the guide-pin m is coiled a spiral spring, n, the ends of which bear, respectively, against the stationary bracketl and the pro? jectinglug h ot' the slide-bar; or, instead of securing the guide-pin m to the stationary bracket, it may be secured to the lug h, and find a slide-bearing in an opening in the stationary bracket Z. Either plan will answer an excellent purpose. In the drawing it is represented as being secured to bracket l.`

'Ihus constructed, as the .change gate is pushed in either direction, as-shown in dotted lines, the lower edge ot' the steel plate ofthe change-gate, according to the direction in which it is turned, will force the slide-bar D down, compressing the spring a, which, when the pressure is removed, will, through its recoil, force the slidebar up again, and, in so doing, bring the changegate again to its original position to close the change-opening. To this end, by reference to Fig. 2, it 'will be seen' that the inner face ot' the notch c, and which is formed by the steel plate d, consists of a wide dat surface, which, being pivoted,

when moved, causes the outer ends V of the platesd to turn in the are otl a circle, and consequently-the upper end of the slide-bar D being correspondingly provided with a iiat surface formed by the plate e-when so above, and on the side of the bell next the slide-bar, ispivoted a hammer, H. The hub or sleeve of the hammer is provided'with va tappet, r, and a projecting arm, s, against the latter of which theupper end of a strong spring," t, is madefto bear, there being nas-n'jall' stud-pin, u, to restrain the spring from forcing the arm s beyond a certain distance, 'in' orderto prevent the yhammer from resting Afon the bell. y

To operate the bell the slide-bar D is provided with a spring-slide tappet, x, an enlargement, v, for lthis purpose lbeing formed on one sidefof theslide-bar.y This'enlar'gement contains a socket, jwl1'ich` vpasses n entirely through it, but is made wider on the side next the hammer-tappet than on the other. Into this the tappet .7c is inserted, and which being of'vgreaterdiameter at the tappet endthan at the other,lthe,'latter farms aste'm, w, which is made to prject throughthe small opening of 'the socket, ats-shown inl Fig. 1. A smallstop? piny 'is passed through E'an opening 'inL the stem 1w on lthe outside 'of the socket-hole, to retain theta-ppet w in placeonce it has lbeen inserted.

Around the stein w is arranged a small `spiral spring, vwhich findsv its points of resistance against the inner end of thevtappet m proper, and inner end of the widened portion of its socket.' p

yThus constructed, whenl the slide-bar D is depressed it causes the flat surface of the tappet tofact on the tappet r of the hammer H, thereby raising. the latter until thetappetw passes beyond or below the tappet r of the hammer.l When this occurs the yspring t, which by thatact has been bent, reacts on the arm s of the hammer, causing` the latter to descend with a sharp blow on the bell, and thus cal'ls'the attention -of the driver to the fact that vchangeis'wanted,'or of the vpassenger that his changeis ready. Pressure being reinoved'lfr'om the change-gate, spiral spring n reacts on the slide-barD, forcing it upward,

andn'so 'doing brin'gs'the curved side of the `tappetsv against the curved side of the tappet r, which, being immovable, in that direction by reason of theJ stud u resisting the further Vturning of thearm s of the ham-mer, forces the tappet w into its socket until the latter has 'passed tappet r, when -the small spiral spring :around-'the stemw of tappetw forces thelatter out again ready to engage with tappet r on vthe vnext descent of slide-bar D.

The lever which carries the hammer H should possess sufficient resiliency to impart asharptblowrto -thebell, despite the fact that "'whenj'jat rest it does lnot or should not touch thefbeILIbeca-use of `the farrangement of the stopfstud u and the arm s onitshub 'or,sleeve.

Having described myinvention, what 1 'claim -as inew, and desire to'secu're by LettersPatent, is-

yslide-tappet .fr with the hammer' hand its tap.-

pet rand lbell'Gr, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination rof a pivoted changev gate, Cfprovidedwith a wearing-plate,d, with a slide-bar, D, providedv with a-corresponding wearing-plate, e, substantially/'as set forth.

Intestimony that I claim the foregoing as my own l ailx my signature in presence 'of two witnesses.

EKIS HAND. l Witnesses:

lE. B. Sco'rcr,

R. F. Oseoon. 

